Device with an Electromechanical Lock for the Safe Distribution of Blood or Hemocomponents

ABSTRACT

A transparent rigid-material container ( 1 ), has an access mouth ( 11 ) and is fitted with a closing cover ( 2 ) with a rear appendix ( 21 ) for coupling, in an axial direction, with the container mouth ( 11 ); with the container mouth ( 11 ) and the rear appendix ( 21 ) of the cover presenting similar, irregular outlines for coupling in a single position; and the cover ( 21 ) includes an electronic circuit ( 3 ) that includes an electronic control card ( 31 ), and a data memory ( 33 ), a data entry and downloading arrangement ( 32   a,    32   b,    32   c ), a data display screen ( 34 ), an electric battery ( 35 ) and a low-consumption electromechanical lock ( 36 ), all connected with the data memory ( 33 ).

PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION

This invention refers to a device with electromechanical closing for the safe distribution of blood or hemocomponents applicable preferably to medical centers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In hospitals and health centers in which supplies of hemocomponents and drugs are made for patient treatments, it is very important to ensure that the hemocomponent is supplied to the correct patient. Control of these processes is always delicate, especially in hospitals with large numbers of patients.

In such centers, it is usual for bags of blood or hemocomponents to be transferred by health staff to the patients' rooms, which could produce mistakes leading to the wrong patient being given the blood or hemocomponent transfusion with the subsequent health risks.

One employed system for blood or hemocomponent identification to be applied to a patient, is the use of patient identification at the head of the bed, which is annotated on the sample containers that are sent to the blood bank. After performing the corresponding analyses, the blood bank sends the hemocomponents to the requesting personnel or the requested drugs from the pharmacy, together with a tracking code for said hemocomponents. The health staff receiving the hemocomponents or drugs are usually responsible for several patients and distribute them in accordance with the supplied codes and fill out a report if there are any incidents or problems. These codes are normally handwritten which involves the possibility of the personnel intervening in the successive steps misreading the codes or accidentally changing the packages employed, with subsequent risk to the patent's health.

One alternative is to make use of a bracelet with several self-adhesive labels for printed codes, a writable area for the patient's name and the label codes, together with a simple closing mechanism. The bracelet is worn on the patient's wrist and the sample containers are identified with the self-adhesive labels. However, there is the problem of hemocomponents or drug reception because the staff who are going to administer the product must visually read the numeric code with the accompanying possibility of a mistake in reading such abstract data.

There are other systems based on the use of handheld computers by the health staff involved in all the steps for supplying the hemocomponents or drugs so that patient identification is not made on the sample, but within the computer network. This system is much safer and objective, but does mean higher costs and more complex handling because the health staff is obliged to learn more or less complex computer applications. Moreover, in services such as emergencies or operating theaters, agility and simplicity of use are essential and so, systems that are complicated to use by the associated health staff cannot be employed.

The problem thus lies in the development of a device with an electro-mechanical locking mechanism for safe blood distribution, the opening of which requires the entering of certain previously assigned codes in a biunivocal manner to the corresponding patient to prevent the blood transported in the mentioned container being mistakenly given to another patient.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The device with electromechanical lock for the safe distribution of blood or hemocomponents, the object of the invention, present certain constructional peculiarities intended to allow at least one bag of blood or hemocomponent to be placed inside with the device lock preventing access to the contents because it is necessary to enter codes into the device, associated with the patient for whom the blood or hemocomponent is intended, in order to unblock and open the device. In this way, undesired content manipulation and mistakes in supplying patients are avoided.

In accordance with the invention, this device comprises a transparent rigid-material container, fitted with an access mouth for placing the bag of blood or hemocomponent to be transported inside and a closing cover fitted with a rear appendix for axial coupling to the container mouth; with the container mouth and the rear appendix of the cover presenting similar irregular outlines for coupling in a single position.

The lock cover incorporates an electronic circuit that, in a basic configuration, comprises an electronic control card, the means to enter and download data, a data memory, a data display screen, an electric battery and low consumption electromechanical closing.

Said electromechanical lock is fitted with a stop that is moveable between a protruding blocking position in which the stop is housed inside a lateral seating defined on the container mouth and an inoperative position in which said stop is housed inside the cover allowing it to be released from the container and electric, low consumption closing blocking means governed by the electronic control card when the code or data received via the data acquisition means are correct.

The shape of the transparent rigid-material container allows the bag of blood or hemocomponent inside to be identified without having to open the device.

The means for entering and downloading the data in the memory that are associated with the electronic control card inside the container cover comprise pushbuttons that are accessible from outside the cover and an external device connection for data processing and recording.

These means for entering and downloading the data allow the dumping of the data held in an external device and to format the data memory inside the container cover, leaving the device ready for subsequent usage.

In an embodiment of the invention, the closing stop unblocking means comprise an electrically operated low-consumption piezoelectric mechanism. This low-consumption mechanism is governed by the electronic control card that produces its unblocking when opening codes, coinciding with those held in the data memory and previously assigned to a determined patient, are entered by keypad or a wireless transmitter-receiver.

In this way, device opening is guaranteed to only occur via the codes associated with a patient, thus preventing mistakes in opening it and in manipulation of the contents by unauthorized persons.

In accordance with the invention, the cover comprises, at one end, a temperature sensor connected to the electronic control card, which detects and records the temperature inside the container. This temperature record will determine whether the bags of blood or hemocomponents being transported inside the device have been exposed to unsuitable temperatures during distribution.

In an embodiment of the invention, the cover additionally comprises an acoustic signal emitter, connected to the electronic control card that emits different acoustic signals indicating acceptance or rejection of the entered data, such as electromechanical lock opening codes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

To complement this description and to facilitate understanding of the characteristics of the invention, this descriptive report is accompanied by a set of drawings, having merely an illustrative, non-limiting character in which the following is represented:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the device in the open position.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the device with the container sectioned by a vertical plane and with the cover partially sectioned and blocked in the locked position.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic of the electronic circuit associated with the cover for entering, displaying and recording data and the cover blocking device operation.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The exemplary embodiment shown in the attached figures comprises a rigid transparent material container (1), fitted with a mouth (11) for access inside and a cover (2) the end of which presents a rear appendix (21) that can be coupled to the container mouth (11).

The container (1) and the cover (2) present a generally cylindrical configuration of suitable dimensions for use in conventional pneumatic transporters.

The container (1) and the rear appendix (21) of the cover each present lateral curvo-concave configurations (12, 22) that determine a single coupling position between cover (2) and container (1).

The cover (2) incorporates an electronic circuit (3) which, in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3, comprises an electronic control card (31), data entering and downloading means represented by a keypad (32 a), a connection (32 b), in this case USB type, a wireless transmitter-receiver (32 c), a data memory (33), a data display screen (34), an electric battery (35), a low-consumption electromechanical lock (36), a temperature sensor (37) and an acoustic signal emitter (38).

The electromechanical lock (36), responsible for blocking the cover (2) in the container (1) closed position, is fitted with a movable stop (36 a), represented by a ball, intended to be housed in a lateral seating (13) defined in the container mouth and unblocking means (36 b) specifically consisting of a low consumption piezoelectric mechanism.

As previously indicated, the data to be recorded in memory (33), such as the electromechanical lock opening codes associated with the patient, or any others, can be entered by two pushbuttons (32 a) or in a wireless manner via the wireless transmitter-receiver (32 c).

When the cover (2) is in the container (1) locked, the previously stored opening codes have to be re-entered in order to unblock the electromechanical lock (36) and open the top, thus preventing the device being opened by unauthorized persons.

Once the container has been used, the stored data are downloaded and the memory is formatted, using the connector (32 b) and the transmitter receiver (32 c).

The acoustic signal emitter (38) is responsible for using different acoustic signals to indicate whether the codes entered to open the electromechanical lock are correct or not.

Once the nature of the invention is sufficiently described, together with an exemplary embodiment, it is placed on the record for whatever purpose that the materials, shape, size and arrangement of the described elements may be modified, provided this does not involve any alteration to the essential characteristics of the invention that are claimed below. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A device with electromechanical locking for secure distribution of blood or hemocomponents comprising: a transparent rigid container having an access mouth, and a closing cover with a rear appendix for coupling, in an axial direction, with the container mouth, with the container mouth and the rear appendix of the cover presenting similar, irregular outlines for coupling in a single position; and wherein said cover includes an electronic circuit that comprises: an electronic control card, and components connected with the electronic control card, the components including: a data memory for storing specific patient identification details, a information display screen, an electric battery, a low-consumption electromechanical lock, and at least one data entry and downloading device for uploading and downloading data and unblocking the electromechanical lock by entering patient identification data and biunivocal correspondence with data held in the memory.
 2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein: said container includes a lateral seating adjacent the mouth, and the electromechanical lock comprises: a stop a that is movable between a protruding blocking position in which said stop is housed inside said lateral seating defined in the container adjacent the mouth and a non-operative position in which said stop a is housed inside the cover permitting the release of the container and an electric low-consumption blocking device for moving the stop and governed by the electronic control card of which operates in response to at least one of codes and data received via the at least one data entry and downloading device.
 3. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one data entry and downloading device includes a keypad that is accessible from outside the cover.
 4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one data entry and downloading device includes a wireless transmitter-receiver.
 5. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one data entry and downloading device includes a connection for external data processing and recording devices.
 6. A device in accordance with claim 2, wherein the movable blocking device for the stop includes an electric low-consumption piezoelectric mechanism.
 7. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein cover comprises a temperature sensor at a rear end thereof that is connected to the electronic control card for detection and recording of temperature changes inside the container during device usage.
 8. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cover comprises an acoustic signal emitter connected to the electronic control card, for emission of acoustic signals indicating acceptance or rejection of entered data.
 9. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the entered data includes electromechanical lock opening codes. 